Watery Grave
by OveliaGirlHaditRight
Summary: Luna actually runs to Noctis' side when she finishes her speech in Altissia. And this all leads to a chain of events, where she actually ends up surviving the Trial of Leviathan. For Noctluna Week.


Lunafreya—surprised everyone, including herself—and ran Noctis' way, the moment she was done with her speech and found herself in her beloved's arms.

And Noctis, while he was taken aback by this at first, was swift to wrap his arms around Luna's waist and bury his face in her hair. But his initially being so frozen, almost made the Oracle giggle: when they'd been in Tenebrae for that short time—and Noctis had been nursing a crush for her even back then–he'd always made sure to seem "awkward" around her when Ravus was near. And he'd even told her in their letters to each other, that if they reunited somewhere that Ravus was also with them, he'd make sure to be respectful towards her.

Well… Ravus _wasn't_ here, and yet Noctis had still behaved in such a way. And it made Luna believe that Noctis was actually much less suave than he wrote himself to be in their notebook.

"What are you _laughing_ at, Luna?" Noctis asked in a very good-natured way, as he tried to pull her away from the people now fanning over the engaged Oracle and Chosen King.

Deciding not to tell Noctis that she'd been having teasing thoughts about him, Luna gave him another truth as she waved to the prince's friends to join them. "Just marveling at life… Earlier, I'd thought about giving up… because I know the Trial of Leviathan will be… taxing. And to prepare for that, I foolishly almost held off in coming to see you." Luna made certain to choose her words carefully here: she didn't want Noctis to know yet, was that she'd almost given up in seeing him… because she didn't want him to see her body so frail, and since she knew she'd die after the coming Contract. Why give her precious Noctis even more pain that way? "…But seeing you, Noctis, filled me with such… life, that I just had to be by your side." And it had even reminded her of why she so very much _did_ want to live.

Noctis positively beamed at this, and even seemed to give Luna an Eskimo Kiss for reward—something that Luna didn't understand at first. But she supposed that he was trying to do something that fit with the children they had once been together, and the lovers they now were. And so surely a kiss on the nose sufficed.

And leading the way to where some artists in Altissia were now trying to draw them, Noctis said almost self-consciously, "…I'm really glad to see you happy, Luna. Even when I see you go out and heal people on TV, I see how you're always shaken before you start. This… is a nice difference from that."

"You caught that, did you?" Luna found herself saying, before she'd even decided to: it just surprised her that Noctis knew her so well—she loved the public, she did, so she tried to put on a good show for them….—as the fact was, she was shy, nervous about public speaking, and hated being under Niflheim's thumb. And these were all things that Luna had never written in the Lovers' Notebook. He had just gleaned it from her facial expressions on screen, apparently.

"I did."

Noctis' face was very close to Luna's now, and time seemed to stop and the world slowed down around them.

Out of the corner of her eye, Luna saw streamers falling like rain—because apparently some of Altissia had stopped trying to bother them, but was now trying to celebrate the happy couple.

And even as sweet as it was, Luna now saw it as their cue to leave.

Gladio, Luna thought, was tapping his foot at the happy couple impatiently, anyway.

So locking her arm with Noctis'—and how good it finally felt to be with him like this, as she had wanted—Luna followed the brothers to the Leville.

…

Once at their hotel for the time being, the five friends tried to decide if Luna and Noctis' wedding was still on. Gladiolus, Ignis, and Prompto seemed to think that it should be—as a symbol of the peace, and since both Luna and… Noct wanted it—but Luna was trying to shoo them away from the idea, since no matter what she would die on the morrow.

"Tomorrow, I commune with the Hydraean," Luna spoke firmly, looking at each person before her in turn as she did so. "And while the idea of the wedding is the best that I've ever heard… I can't be at all tired when meeting Leviathan tomorrow."

Luna thought she may have heard Gladio muttering that she _should_ marry Noctis and have sex with him, then, so she'd be full of endorphins in that fateful moment… but she couldn't be too sure, because Ignis seemed to be trying to save him from choking now? Or was he trying to make Gladio choke?

"Whatever you want, Luna," Noctis assured—ignoring his friends with much effort, Luna thought—as he squeezed her hand in one of his and dealt Uno cards with another. "If you want our wedding to wait—maybe because you want the, a, commande- Ravus, that is, to be here—we can do that."

Gods Luna loved Noctis so much, and the thought of losing him now—after _this_—was too much to bear. And for that fact, Lunafreya felt a stubborn tear worrying at her eye but she willed it away.

"Then it's settled," Luna agreed.

And she cheated in Uno, to make sure the first card she played in this bonding experience of theirs was something that would make everyone happy… since she knew she'd have nothing but their pity soon.

…

While Luna still wasn't sure if she was sleeping with her beloved or not—she didn't need the distraction, and didn't want to show him her disgusting body—they _had_ retired to one hotel room together.

And Noctis was reading a fishing magazine in bed, when Luna came out of the bathroom while brushing her long, damp hair. And as Luna sat at Noctis' feet and let the brush fall from her fingertips, she questioned Noctis something she'd been debating about all day: "What's something I can give Prompto for thanks in saving Pryn… err, his 'Tiny'?"

At that, Noctis laughed and brought her into his arms: Luna settled into them easily. "You should know better than anyone, Luna. How have we communicated over the years? How did you first meet Prompto?"

Letters? Was that what Noctis meant? Luna supposed it made some sort of sense in a bookends kind of way, but she had planned on giving kind notes to Ignis—for so perfectly helping her to figure out the plan for Leviathan. So if she was now going to give such things to Prompto, what should she now give Ignis to differentiate between the two of them?

Curling into Noctis' arms even more, and finding she wanted to be there and _much_ more, Luna said breathlessly, "Do you really think that that's for the best, Noctis?"

"Y-yeah." But he didn't sound very certain on the matter. Rather, the King's mind seemed to be a million miles away. The room was charged with electricity, for all of the unspoken things between them and then it seemed to explode. One of them kissed the other—Luna wasn't even sure who started it—and after they had frantic hands and kisses all over each other, they found themselves rolling in the sheets.

Somewhere in the back of her mind during it all, Luna found herself remembering that this was exactly the thing she'd wanted to avoid. But as happiness and pleasure consumed her, the Oracle easily found she could hide just how much her body was already dying in this one moment.

Hours later when they were done, Luna _did_ write a million messages to she took off her seal of Tenebrae and gave it to Ignis, with the words "Please protect Noctis" on it. Given how much he cared for his charge, Luna thought he'd appreciate that more than anything else she could give him. For Gladio, she left him nothing… somewhat to Lunafreya's shame. But she thought if she somehow survived this, and she got pregnant from her and Noctis' actions the previous night, she might name their child after him. Perhaps.

To Noctis… she sadly left nothing behind. And most certainly not the truth.

…

Luna, Noctis, and the brothers faced Leviathan… but it all very quickly went to hell. The goddess did not like the idea of helping the Chosen King as much as she should have. And even while she attacked Luna, Luna tried to convince her otherwise.

…Altissia was leveled by all of the monster's attacks, and Luna didn't think that the citizens—or Noctis and their friends—could be evacuated from there soon enough: she absolutely cringed when she saw her betrothed fall from the sky and injure himself even more than he already was from his fighting, in nearly breaking his back.

Luna tried to get to him… but then the Chancellor she didn't trust, and so had to keep an eye on, ruined everything by fatally stabbing her.

The pain was unbearable—even worse than how her weakening body made her feel—but Luna couldn't focus on that now! She needed to rise Noctis up, and to have him finish this fight and receive the Blessing… and she did. And healed an unconscious Noctis and did her best to shield him from towering waves as she bled bled bled on the pavement.

…

Luna knew she was some sort of dream-esque, afterlife moment with Noctis… And she tried her best to explain everything to him and give him a heartfelt goodbye…

But when she started to sink beneath the water, some of Noctis' sadness turned to incredulity as he crossed his arms and regarded her. "Luna… you're too ho-hum about this. You- you_ knew_ before this, didn't you?! That if nothing else killed you, the Contract with Leviathan _would_. And you didn't tell me?!"

Noctis was furious now, and he had every right to be. Luna had messed up badly… and perhaps he would already move on here, and let her fall. Wasn't it even what she deserved?

But at the last second, almost spurred on by his anger, Noctis got an increase of speed and swam down to where she was in the Trench and tightly grabbed onto her hand.

Everything went black then… Luna thought it was the end, so she tried to take the memory of Noctis' hand in hers now—and he love he'd shown her last night—into the afterlife with her.

But then she awoke—awoke!—to light, and her new friends, and the pair of smiling blue eyes that she loved so much.

And thinking three times must have been the charm, Luna took Noctis' hand in hers and leaned into his arm. And Noctis hunched down beside her hospital bed and held Luna as her head rested on his shoulder—both perfectly content.


End file.
